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FreeBase.ORG, una verdadera "Wikipedia de las bases de datos" comenzó a operar hoy en versión alpha abierta al público (anteriormente era sólo con invitación).

FreeBase es una aplicación web para mantener y administrar colaborativamente un conjunto de datos. Cada datum puede pertenecer a uno o varios tipos, y los tipos se organizan en una jerarquía. Los usuarios son libres de agregar y actualizar datos y de crear nuevos tipos, o editar los tipos que han creado.

Todos los datos que se administran en FreeBase son distribuídos con licencia Creative Commons, la idea es hacer más simple para desarrolladores y otros el incluír datos en sus aplicaciones. Por ejemplo, si necesitas una base de datos de códigos postales, de elementos químicos o de símbolos bursátiles, puedes descargarla (o contribuir correcciones) libremente.

The Out Campaign is an effort started by the Richard Dawkins Foundation to get atheists to publicly declare their status. It suggests to display a letter "A" in Zapfino font and scarlet color as a symbol, not of our disbelief, but of our willingness to declare something that by now should be obvious: the world is not for, or made of, believers only.

I have been pretty much undecided about what to do as an atheist. On one hand, I think it's very important to voice our disbelief, as otherwise, those in power will only respond to the interests of the superstitious majority. On the other hand, I see religion dying a natural death and I don't want to give religious leaders more reasons to fight.

My decision so far is on the side of speaking up. I think atheists need to have a saying, but not to try to convince the more credulous people that their pixie in the sky does not exist. What we have to do is to give a hand to that large group of people who were raised to belief in something following a cultural custom, but that now that they are not children, cannot reconcile the teachings of religion with their own life and reason.

See also: Pharyngula

The US department for veteran afairs has a long list of Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers. For instance, if you belong to the United Moravian Church and join the choir of invisible, you can rest in peace knowing that the government will respect your beliefs and put over your dead body the corresponding symbol.

The list includes about 40 symbols from the cross to the crescent and start, including a pentacle -- upright, not inverted. Interestingly, there are several non-belief symbols, including humanists and atheists (and having them in this list is like listing "bald" as a hair color). See list>>